The library of the French National Assembly, created in 1796, is one of the great treasures of the Palais Bourbon. Its domed ceiling, painted by Eugène Delacroix between 1838 and 1847, crowns rows of gilded shelves and carved woodwork. Restored in 2025, the library now reveals its splendor more vividly than ever. It’s among the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.
This is the Salle des Séances, also known as the Hémicycle, the debating chamber of the French National Assembly. Located in the Palais Bourbon, it was completed in 1799 during the turbulent years following the Revolution. The semicircular design, inspired by ancient Roman theatres, symbolizes openness and equality among deputies. Above the speaker’s rostrum hangs a monumental painting, The Oath of the Jeu de Paume by Jacques-Louis David, commemorating the pivotal moment of 1789 when deputies swore not to separate until France had a constitution. Today, the chamber remains the symbolic heart of French democracy, where laws are debated and the government held accountable.
Silent statues and stone façades, watching over the Louvre’s courtyard as they have for centuries.
During Blue Hour
A fiery sunset after a summer rainstorm. The clouds parted just long enough to set the Eiffel Tower against a dramatic sky, with the Seine reflecting the storm’s fading glow.
View from the rooftop of the Institut du Monda Arabe.
The interior of Notre-Dame de Paris, reopened in 2024 after years of painstaking reconstruction following the devastating fire of April 2019. The restored nave once again reveals the soaring Gothic vaults, chandeliers, and stained glass that have inspired worshippers and visitors for centuries, marking the cathedral’s return as a spiritual and cultural heart of Paris.
Paris’s Hôtel de Ville — the city hall since the 14th century — glows at dusk, its Renaissance façade illuminated against the deep evening sky.
The vast Gothic interior of Église Saint-Quiriace in Provins, France, begun in 1160, towers above the medieval town that grew wealthy from its great fairs. Despite its incomplete construction, the church dominates the skyline and offers a strikingly large scale for such a small community. On August 5, 1429, Joan of Arc attended Mass here alongside King Charles VII, linking this sacred space to one of the most storied moments in French history.
The French tricolor hangs beneath the Arc de Triomphe at dusk, its colors framed against the illuminated stonework and the evening sky. Commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 and completed in 1836, the monument honors soldiers who fought and died for France, and today stands as a national symbol of remembrance at the top of the Champs-Élysées.
